Athletics News

As a player, Bernie Bierman earned All-Conference and All-American honors on the gridiron as a halfback for the Gophers. He also served as the captain on the undefeated 1915 Big Ten title team. From there, Bierman, who also played basketball and ran track at Minnesota, got into coaching. His first stint was in Montana, at the high school level, and then, after serving in WWI, began coaching at the collegiate level at Montana University. He later wound up serving as the head coach at both Mississippi A&M and later at Tulane. In 1932 the "Grey Eagle" came home to take over as the head coach of the Gopher, where he became a legend. During Bierman's first 10 years as Minnesota's head coach (1932-41), better known as the "Golden Era," the Gophers not only won seven Big Ten titles, they also won five national championships (1934, 1935, 1936, 1940 and 1941). In 1942 Bierman rejoined the military for a three-year stint to serve in WWII. He returned to coaching in 1945 and would coach the Gophers for six more seasons before retiring with a 93-35-6 career record at Minnesota (146-62-13 overall). A recipient of numerous Coach of the Year awards, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1955.